Category: Beverages

Chapter III Beverages. Lovely chapter introduction in Fannie Farmer's iconic book for Beverages. Her cookbook was published starting 1887. My version is a 1924 edition. This would have been the height of Prohibition, so no wine, beer, or distilled liquors. We see that section VII covers beverages for medicinal purposes, which could be inclusive of…

Java Mills Coffee Wholesale 1864. Happy Monday! A little pick-me-up for your Monday morning. Looks like this place is still around: 52 Vesey Street, New York. If anyone is in downtown, stop by and ask for E.B. Miller! You'll need a saucepan, a fire, a piece of muslin, coffee grounds and water. And as an…

Good Coffee 1880. Happy Monday! Here's a "Good Coffee" recipe - simple and straight forward. You will have better coffee than is produced by the most complicated and costly patent machine Watch out, Keurig! You'll need a saucepan, a fire, a piece of muslin, coffee grounds and water. And as an added bonus (because it's…

Coffee Custard 1885. Happy Monday! How about a coffee custard to wake you up? I'm not sure how this would work. Custards are more of a solid. According to this process, you bake/cook the custard first, then add the cold coffee liquid afterwards. So is the coffee merely a sauce? Hmmm... Too much thinking required…

L'Eau de la Vie Recipe Poem. If you start at the top of the page, you'll see the actual recipe for L'Eau de la Vie - French for 'Water of Life'. Moving down the page, you see that the author includes a poem from one of the cookbook contributors that embeds the recipe within. Very…

Meringued Coffee Recipe. Lots of early coffee recipes use various parts of eggs for fining and flavoring. Whipped cream isn't uncommon, but this is the first recipe I've come across that calls for a meringue and whipped cream concoction. More Fun Discoveries Pumpkin Soup ~1866 The Victorian Home: Yearly Staff Wages ~1880 History of Aunt…

Wine Making Book 1835. Incredible discovery for those into antique cookbooks and home wine making (a.k.a - me - someone has to have esoteric tastes!). Found it through a reference made in a separate cookbook from 1837 - as in: "Here are some wine recipes, but if you really want to learn more, go read…

Wine Logic from 1837 - "Of wine may be verified the merry induction, that good wine maketh good blood, good blood causeth good humours, good humours cause good thoughts, good thoughts bring forth good works, good works carry a man to heaven; ergo, good wine carrieth a man to heaven" -Howell Source: The Cook and…

The Art of Pouring Coffee As a rule, the guest of honor is offered the first cup, which is the weakest, and the children, if served at all, are given the last and strongest. Okay, then. We'll go with that. This reminds me of those signs in cafes that state: Unattended children will be given…

Cocoa Recipe. This cocoa recipe would be a wonderful experiment if you can get your hands on cocoa beans. If anyone can try it out and let us know, please do in the comments below! Ingredients: Cocoa beans, water, milk. More Fun Discoveries How Funny We Feel ~1831 Pumpkin Diet Drink ~1885 Navigating Antique Cookbooks…

Christmas Egg Nog Recipe So the huge issue that we home-cooks typically have with homemade egg nog is that it uses raw eggs. I'm curious to know if all of the alcohol included in this recipe basically nullifies any possibility of food poisoning...Maybe that's not how it works, but I'd like to think so because…

The Search for Persimmons - Persimmons are truly a seasonal and regional fruit. The local farmers' market has been flush with persimmons for the past few weeks and I've been looking for persimmon recipes with little luck. Then, a happy coincidence. The Library of Congress had a special blog post on early American beer brewing…